Our Someone 2 Know is a mentor at the Northern Nevada International Center. Based in Reno, NNIC offers translation services, education forums and the uniquely impactful refugee resettlement program.

The staff at the international center say the work they do for refugees would be impossible to accomplish without volunteers - especially Gretchen Hendi.

We caught up with her at the offices for NNIC, near the University of Nevada, Reno.

On this particular day, Hendi is helping clients create resumes, and on any given day, the tasks can run the gamut. "I still help with medical appointments, transportation - especially when the busses went down, transportation was pretty much all I was doing. Housing - looking for housing."

Hendi donates anywhere from 25 to 40 hours per week of her time. Born and raised in Sparks, Gretchen says being of service is something she learned early on - "Always caring for others. My parents, my mother was a social worker. This was instilled - always helping those that need."

Gladys Wilson is the program manager for the Reception and Placement Program at NNIC. She tells us she’d like to hire Gretchen full-time. "She is incredible.  She is our star volunteer." Hendi is happy to remain a volunteer, even if she’s there five days per week.

Gretchen says she admires the clients she works with, who are not just immigrants, but refugees - and often very misunderstood.

"They come because the conditions are so bad, they have no choice. And so, they come here and they want the same things all of us want - safety and security, and to raise their kids."

Hendi and her husband have raised four kids of their own. Gretchen believes her life experience has given her a unique perspective. "My husband is from Jordan. So, I have that connection of knowing people from another culture - acceptance."

The pandemic put a unique burden on NNIC's clients, who lost their jobs, then had to face a foreign unemployment system. 

Once again, Gretchen was there.

Wilson says Hendi spent endless hours on the phone and computer, advocating for the clients. "She put an incredible amount of time processing every case that we had in the office."

“I won’t give up. They've gone through so much, the least I can do is fight for them."

Hendi has been volunteering at NNIC for almost five years now and plans to stay as long as she is needed. "To give people a chance."

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Gretchen says she hopes everyone can come to understand that we're all the same; no matter what country we're from - we're more alike than we are different.

To learn more about the Northern Nevada International Center, click here https://www.unr.edu/nnic